Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1887-04-23
A NIGHT IN POhPEN,
Dreaming of Things Long Dead and Gone
in the Far-Famcd Temple Of Isis.

A NIGHT IN POMPEll.
Dreaming of Things Long Dead and Gone
in the Far-famed Temple Of Isis.
The Italian Government has taken
possession Of the eXcayated city Of
Pompeii. A law recently enacted
strictly forbids strangers entering or
remaining after sunset. was anxious
to see the ruins by moonlight, and re-
solved TO spend a night in that resur-
rected city of the Romans, the law to
the contrary Notwithstanding. The
preceding night had been spent on
Mount Vesuyius, and early in the
morning | arose from my lofty couch
| and descended the side of the mountain
toward Pompeii along the same route
that the lava and ashes took eighteen
hundred years ago when the un%fortun-
ate city was buried. The earth exca-
waited from Pompeii has been thrown
around the city, making n wall twenty
or twenty-five feet high, The only en-
trance is through a gate with a reyolv-
ing stile, where the visitor pays forty
cents admission.
Pompeii is a wonderful place. The
old inhabitants, subjects of the En-
peror Titus, are still there-there in
glass cases, in the very pastures in
which they died eighteen centuries
ago. In the courtyard of one house is
still standing II pedestal bearing a bust
of the owner of the house-Cornelius
Rufus.
Toward set of sun, Worn out with
wandering among the curious ruins
and relics of the dead past, | sought a
place wherein TO rest and wait the
rising of the moon. In the temple of
Isis still stands the altar where the
Pompeiian priests delivered oracles to
the credulous people. The statue head,
whence issued the %oracles, stands now
as it then stood, IN a pedestal, under
which the cunning priests had hidden
themselves. Into this silent and secret
, place'f crawled, refreshed myself with
, a luncheon from my knapsack and lay
| down to rest. The descent from Vesu.
t wins and the days sight seeing proved
| too much for me, sank into a sleep
not deep, but disturbed by dreams o
things long dead and gone. saw ole
\. pagan priests talking through the
s sculptured head to humbug the igno
rant worshippers, | saw the gaping
d crowd Of women and men, with face
Of awe and reverence, receiving tn
o lying o%racles; then suddenly, as i
e seemed, a man Of grave and revercn'
aspect, with long, flowing beard AM
n long hair, confronted the deceivin
% priests, and with commanding gestures
,e ordered them away and overturned tn
o oracle head, which fell with a cras
1t amid the pagan's cries and shouts.
sc ! started up wildly, so vivid was tn
n scene. | found myself in darkness.
5, the sound Of rough voices We're shou
ing near by; | could not at first realiz
" where ] was.
h. "Ahime hi qmi" (here he is!
lie shouted the rough voices. Then a ma
ty with a lantern poked his head into ii
ii place, and threw a sudden light upc
me. ! was blinded and dazed. III
a man began talking Italian at me
he rapidly that | became still more b
nr wildered. Was | dead and in hade
d. The notwithstanding fellow with Il
n lantern seized me fiercely, jerked L
n up and out Of my hiding-place al
d. dragged me along to the gate Of Il
h city. Once in the open air, my daz
senses cleared and | began to take
1T the situation. A tierce-looking fellc
with a bristling mustache and "A sho,
a uniform went through my pockets a
ne. knapsack, and then | was escorted do,
IL the high road to Portici, a village abo
o seven miles distant, in the direction
he Naples. There ] was lodged in ia
IN and the next morning brought befC
me an officer Of justice, charged with t
nd heinous crime Of sleeping in the de
got city Of Pompeii. Putting on an I'M
mic cent air, | said in my best Italian Il
RS, my intentions were not felonious, Il
ere had taken nothing, that | had fall
va asleep from over-fatigue-Vesuvi
| sightseeing and all that; and finally,
a no purloined relies were found upon n
lar / was let off with II reprimand ant
= warning not to do so again.
I'm / discovered, on a second visit, Il
ne the stile through which the visitor
Ye tiers Pompeii registers each person pa
yer ing in. At sunset another stile reg
en- ters the exits; exits and entrances IN
in tally. On this evcntful eve they did
ion tally, and so the silent streets ,
houses of the dead were searched "
the result described. From "a Ira
hat Trim bU Iec Meriuether,